John and Nora's Six Children

 

Mary was the oldest of the six children, born on June 27, 1871.  Below is her civil birth record, on a page from the registrar's book.  Below that is the heading that shows the district in which the birth was recorded.  All of the records have the same heading, so I have just shown the part of each page with their information on it.        

          

Birth record of Mary Sullivan, born on the "Twentyseventh June 1871 Ballingarry" to John and 
Hanora Sullivan "formerly McDonnell" of Ballingarry;  recorded "Thirtieth June."

The heading from the page of the civil register showing Mary Sullivan's birth,
which reads "BIRTHS Registerd in the District of Ballyfeard in the Union
 of Kinsale in the County of Cork

                  

Joanna, born Twentyninth April 1873.

                        
 `                   

Catherine, born Twentieth of November 1874.

                            

Hanora, born Thirteenth July 1876.

Ellen, born Twentysixth February 1878

                          
                             

James, born Eleventh September 1880

                                All of the children were born in Ballengarry, within the "Registrar's

                                District of Ballyfeard." 

 

Irish Great-Grandparents: John Sullivan and Nora McDonnell

So, now that I had found the names of my Irish great-grandparents,  using their daughter Mary's (second) marriage certificate and her death certificate, I was then able to find John and Nora's marriage certificate on irishgenealogy.ie.  The Irish government has generously digitized thousands of vital records for family historians, at no charge.  They continue to upload more as of this writing.

Civil marriage record for John Sullivan and Hanora McDonnell
retrieved from irishgenalogy.ie.

With the information on this document, we can learn more  about John and Nora, and see them as the real people that they were, living in a certain place, at a certain time.

John was 24 years old when he marriied "Hanora", 19 years old, on October 30, 1870.  He was living in "Upper Ballingarry" as was Nora.  He was a "labourer" and she was a "farmer's daughter."

Maurice Walsh and Owen McCarthy witnessed the marriage, and they, as well as the bride and groom, signed the document with their "marks," the X's that you see, instead of signatures.  Father Timothy McDonnell, the priest who performed the marriage, who was probably a relative of Nora's, was able to put his signature on the document.  I am guessing that a priest was required to attend rigorous schooling which included handwriting.  

It's curious that both witnesses were male.  Why didn't Nora have a friend, a sister, even her mother, attend as her witness?